Fine Day in Palm Canyon

The Lizards and I hiked Borrego Palm Canyon today. I'd done it several times in the past, but not for a decade or so. It ain't as easy as it used to be! It's 3 miles round trip, a rock clamber in many spots. Flowers were blooming everywhere and the creek was running for about the last half mile to the palms. The trees are naturally growing Washington Palms; there are quite a few of these oases in the Socal desert. They're always neat, especially on a typically hot day; it reached 91 here at Borrego today. While I was tired, the Lizards took it all in stride; of course, they're bionic.

Here I'm approaching the palms. There were a fair number of people on the trail, but it wasn't choked with humanity like, say, the popular trails at Yosemite.

The water in the canyon comes partly from springs and also to some extent from runoff in the adjacent mountains. This year has seen about average rainfall in San Diego county so it's a decent...not great...year for streams and flowers. The last time I was here was, I believe, in the El Nino year of 1998; at that time there was water much farther down the creekbed, all the way to around the parking lot.

These globemallows were blooming in the upper part of the canyon; they're unusually big and colorful for the species! I have a lot more flower pics but I'm still a bit tired and will be in the Desert SW for a while; will post more posies at later dates. For you young'uns, posy was a synonym for flower decades ago; haven't heard the term since the '70s.